Back Again
by Fiction Fanboy
Summary: When the Autobots die at the hands of the Decepticon's, Sam sets his last act to be shutting down the control pillar or die trying. In a panic, he uses the only thing he has at hand, the Matrix of Leadership, to shut down the control pillar causes a backlash of temporal energy dragging is mind back through time. Rated M for Language and Violence. (May get slightly Graphic.)


Begin Again

_Story Summary:: When the Autobots failed to thwart the Decepticon invasion, Sam decides there isn't any reason to live and sets his last act to be shutting down the control pillar or die trying, using the only thing he has at hand, the Matrix of Leadership, to shut down the control pillar causes a backlash of temporal energy dragging is mind back through time._

* * *

My eyes opened to behold chaos and destruction. Entire buildings lay to waste under the relentless onslaught of the Deception's invasion army. My mind was wrapped in fog, my vision hazed and the sound of the on-going battle was absent to the all encompassing ringing in my ears. I stared around through the dust and debris, blood down the side of my head from a wound to my skull, barely registering to my clouded thoughts that it was likely the source of my concussion.

Cars and buildings alike were lit ablaze by the destructive force of the Cybertronian weapons, tearing through metal, stone and even people, as if they were the knives and human the paper. Civilians ran in all direction in an effort to escape the horrifying invasion, some took cover in buildings whilst others were unfortunate or maybe fortunate enough to be hit by one of their weapons. Due to the size of the bullet rounds used in their guns, they didn't just pass through flesh like any human weapon but instead caused the same effect a 50. Calibre round has on a person's head. People were simply vaporised by the great heat and size of the projectiles fired and they simply fled in utter terror from the nightmarish horror.

I crawled to my feet, the effort ending up with me stumbling dizzily into a wall, bruising my shoulder in the process. I steadied myself by turning sideways so that my shoulders and upper back were braced against the wall, waiting for the disorientation to fade. My head was throbbing in pain and I brought a bloodied hand to my skull, hissing in the pain of the headache and closed my eyes tightly shut. Bracing myself, I opened my eyes and looked towards the sounds of battle. I could see in the distance through blurred vision, two figures in heated battle. One a solid red whilst the other a mixture of red and blue. _Optimus._ My hazed mind supplied. I made my way closer, trying to process a way of aiding Optimus through the fog of concussion. Later I would know that, logically, it wasn't a good idea, but because my mind was slow and murky, logic wasn't a luxury I possessed at present.

I could feel the thickness in my thoughts ease and my vision clear as adrenaline was released into my system, pushing aside pain in need for survival. _Pain could come later. Survival comes first._ My paced change from a sluggish dragging of my feet to a steady limp that came from a dull ache in my leg. I thought somewhere in the back of my mind that if it ached now through the adrenalin, I could only imagine how much pain I will be in when the hormone fades away.

My primary objective was interrupted by a crackling moan of pain and I froze on the spot. It sounded so excruciatingly familiar it made my heart clench inside my chest. _No…please no…_I slowly turned my head. My eyes burned at the sight and I moaned in sadness. "Bee…"

The yellow bot was lying on his front, one arm stretched out with a shaking hand, reaching for me as if calling for me to stop. His eyes were pained, pleading with me to come too him and though not all of his body was visible, I could see that his body was severely damaged. He was missing his left arm and, judging from how it laid a few metres away, he was missing part of one of his legs from around his mid-thigh downward whilst the other was gone completely. On his back were only two of his four door wings that he usually sported, however the most heart wrenching part of his damage lay on his face. He was missing his left optic and the socket that it had left vacated was sparking harshly, his battle mask had been torn from his face and his antennae were hanging limply on his head. I couldn't bear the sight of him; my best friend that I would easily call a brother, yet I couldn't bring myself to leave him in what was likely to be his last minutes.

My legs, thought they felt as if they were made of iron, moved almost automatically. Each step felt as if I were weighed down by Everest but I didn't stop. _I couldn't stop, not when Bee needed me._ After the eternity of time that passed in my journey to him, I collapsed too my knees with silent tears. I lent forward and pressed my forehead too his, closing my eyes in despair. I didn't know how to express to him how sorry I was, I couldn't conjure up the words to describe my misery at how Bee looked. I sucked in a ragged breath to avoid the sob that would surely make me break down. _I can't loose myself; I have to stay strong for Bee._ I left the tears on my face but forced myself not to fall into my own depression. I heard the crackly moan of pain and despair that ripped itself from Bees vocal processor and I suddenly my mind snapped into focus. _Suck it up Sam. Bee needs you now! You can wallow in your own sadness later!_ I lent back from Bee's face and looked him in the remaining optic.

"It's okay Bee." I began rather shakily, "It'll be okay."

I reached out an arm and gently grasped his cheek plate, stroking it warmly, taking comfort in the notion as much as he knew Bee was. I knew that he wasn't going to be okay, and so did Bee. It was a miracle, or just a credit to Bee's strength, that he was still alive with his current status. Bee rolled onto his side and I felt a lump grow in my throat followed by a fresh tear rolling down my cheek. The damage that had happened to the rest of him was minimal compared to what I was seeing on his chest, or what was left of it. What had previously been strong chest armour and plates made up of the overlapping plates that formed his alt-form, was a broken memorial of the impressive shell. An entire area of his chest had been forcibly blown away, leaving a scarred, melted metal wound on the top left half of his chest spanning to the juncture in his shoulder where his left arm was absent. What scarred my memory the most was how beneath the destroyed metal, a faint glow was visible. The damage to Bee's chest had gone as deep as partially exposing his spark chamber, allowing the light of Bee's spark to leak into the surroundings.

_It is so dim. _I thought despairingly. _He doesn't have long left._

"Sam." I snapped my eyes to his face, which was looking at me intently; the torture of his condition was shut away behind his kind optic. "_I know that. _I haven't much time left. I love you._ Sam._" He paused and I sob escaped my lips as I quickly shut them tight. "And I'm sorry I._ Can't protect_. You. _I failed_. In that._ My friend_." I shook my head.

"Y-you never failed me Bee. I'm still here. You haven't failed, you're my friend…no…" I swallowed. "You're the brother that I never had, you are-" I closed my eyes, trying to even out my breathing enough to finish my last words he would likely hear. "I love you, Be-." The name went unfinished. My throat was strangled in sorrow as I watched his optic offline and the weak glow from Bee's spark diminish into nothingness. My head fell forward onto my knees as pain overtook me. I took in a deep, long breath in an attempt to hold back the tide of emotion, breathing out evenly and breathing in again before the inevitable sorrow overtook my mind. I raised my head back to the sky I roared out a gut-wrenching scream of pure misery unto the air, my hands grasping at my hair as tears flooded my face before I simply deflated in defeat, hands sagging to the ground as I rested on my heels. The battle was still raging on around me but I felt disconnected from reality, the sound being drowned in the emptiness of my soul.

Then I heard his pained voice cry out in the distance. _Optimus._

My head whipped around to watch as Sentinel tore Optimus' arm from his body whilst the Autobot leader moaned in pain and distress, falling to the ground. _No. Not him too!_ I staggered to my feet, the pain in my leg forcing my weight onto the other and I burst into a broken run towards the two Primes. I was nearly there on the bridge they were on, and was only able to stand by and watch as Sentinel stabbed his sword into Optimus' other shoulder and force him to the ground, the red and blue bot groaning out in agony as he was pushed along the bridge by the sword pinned into him. Sentinel tore his weapon from the wounded bot harshly, Optimus reaching up towards the traitorous red bots chest pleadingly and through the gunfire and explosions I could faintly hear Optimus' weakened 'Please!' before being shoved back to the floor by Sentinels foot. I was nearly upon the bridge when my body came to a halt as Sentinel raised his blade into the air for a killing blow. Time slowed as the blade was held, poised for the strike.

"OPTIMUS!" I screamed at him, bracing myself against the bridge when his head turned to look at me. This seemed to break Sentinel from his focus on Optimus, seeing me standing not twenty meters away. He smirked with his blade raised and brought it down in Optimus' spark chamber. Heart seized, lungs frozen and body pinned by an unseen force, I could not tear my gaze away from Optimus as his optics flicked upon his spark being extinguished for a second time, however this time there would be no resurrection from the Matrix.

Sentinel ripped his blade free and brandished it at the ready, he almost began to stalk towards me when he was blasted in the chest by powerful force of energy. Sentinel twisted away with the force of the blow, rolling to the floor and deftly grasping his shield, blocking the follow up shot from Megatron.

"Goodbye Optimus." I whispered sadly. I turned my back to the fight between the two giants, my target now wasn't to escape; I knew I would never escape the Decepticon's on my own with a damaged leg, no food, transport or weapons to defend myself. Regardless of survivability factor, I no longer wished to live with the body count that this battle has amassed; I no longer had anyone to live for. Carly was likely dead, Ratchet, Ironhide, Sideswipe, Wheeljack and Mirage were all dead. The two I would be proud to call brothers, Bee and now Optimus were both gone. My only remaining task was to try and deactivate the bridge. And before I even got to setting off I paused. _The Matrix._ I turned back to Optimus' limp frame lying on the bride, his cold dead optics fixed in my direction, myself being the last thing Optimus saw. _Sentinel could not get his hands on the Matrix of Leadership._ The fight between the two raging Decepticon's, for that is what they were regardless of what Sentinel proclaims he is, had driven them away from the bridge when Optimus was located into more open ground, allowing for more manoeuvrability in their deadly dance.

I kept as much out of their sight as I could, unwilling to draw their attention in the case that I brought their wrath down upon me. I hobbled up against the iron girders that made up the bridge until I reached Optimus. I touched his still warm chassis with a tender hand before climbing up onto his frame the same way as I had done in Egypt, only this time I would be taking the Matrix out of his chest instead of putting it there. I looked through the wound the sword had made into his spark chamber and felt for the Matrix but my arm was unable to reach far enough inside. _How am I supposed to get it if I can't reach it and lack the strength to force open his chest plates to look inside?_ I thought desperately before an idea hit me. Optimus demonstrated that the Matrix of Leadership could be manipulated with his mind; therefore surely the same gift was bestowed unto me since I was also permitted to touch the Matrix.

I closed my eyes. I had no idea if this was doing to work since I never asked Optimus how he commanded the Matrix as he did. I reached my hand over where Optimus' spark chamber lay, focusing on just bringing the Matrix up to me. Nothing happened.

"Shit!" I yelled, smacking a fist against Optimus' damaged chassis, to worried about the Matrix to acknowledge the fact that I had just hit a corpse. "Comeoncomeoncomeon." I said quickly under my breath, holding my hand out again and concentrating on forming an image of the Matrix in my mind, which proved difficult when my head was throbbing with pain from the blow to the skull I received earlier. I brought up the image of the curved artefact, imagining an invisible force grasping the object and raising it out of its confinement.

And then I felt it. A weight settled in my mind as if I were thinking really hard on something. I continued to explore the feeling, focusing more on pulling at the imaginary matrix in my head and as I focused more, a slight ghost feeling began to arise in my hand, feeling as if it were already holding an object although I knew it wasn't. After a few more seconds of pulling in my mind I saw the silver object rise from the wound and into the air. I quickly snatched with my outstretched hand and leapt off of Optimus' body and back on the bridge, completely forgetting about my injured leg before it buckled on landing. I cried out in pain, falling into an ungraceful roll in an attempt to lessen the damage of the fall.

I came to a stop with a groan but didn't pause long, but dashed back onto my feet again then broke into a jog. I ran to the nearest building and just before I entered I heard a deep roar of anger and pain which was quickly silenced. I turned back to look over the bridge and saw Megatron's body, upright missing the bottom half of his right arm and as you looked further up, all that was left was a sparking juncture between where his head should have been and where is neck was. Sentinel had disarmed then beheaded Megatron. I rushed out of sight, hoping that the former Prime had no idea where I was. As I ran, I had a continuous feeling of people watching me from afar, which I hoped was nobody hostile.

The considerable run to the pillar was dangerous, as was to be expected in a war zone. I knew that without any back up or distractions, my only chance of making it to the control pillar alive was if I went unseen by any Decepticon that roamed the streets. I was just about to get cross through to outside the building when my legs gave out and I collapsed against a wall, a quick sob escaping my parted lips. Despair overtook me as the pain in my body seemed to amplify.

"I can't do this…" I whimpered.

"_Don't stop, Sam."_ My head whipped up, looking for the familiar sounding voice in the deserted building. _"Keep running."_ With widened eyes, I only just managed to croak out my next word.

"Optimus?" I couldn't quite pinpoint where the voice was coming from, but it sounded as if I wasn't technically _hearing_ it at all. And then I remembered. The Matrix of Leadership was a conduit for Primes to communicate with past leaders. I was hearing Optimus' presence through the Matrix. I looked down at the artefact cradled in my hands. "I can't do it, Optimus. I'm just not strong enough.

"_Sam. If there is anything you are, it is strong. Not including the fact that you saved my life twice, the Dynasty of Primes would not have chosen you worthy of the Matrix if you were not strong enough. You are my equal, Sam and I am proud to call you brother."_ A tear escaped my eyes, trekking a path down my dirty face, before dripping off of my jaw and onto my t-shirt.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you a third time, Optimus. I'm sorry that the one you considered a brother had to let you down one final time." I steeled myself, forcing myself upright onto my feet, resting most of my weight on my undamaged leg. "But I promise with my life that that will be the last time I disappoint you."

"_Never in life nor death have you disappointed me, Sam. Now destroy that pillar, and may we next meet on equal footing in the Matrix."_

* * *

I avoided detection by diving under cars, cutting through buildings and when cover was scarce, hiding in large alley bins. I arrived inside a building that was next to the pillar, I gazed out of the window to find Dylan Gould observing the surrounding chaos. Anger built up inside me. I left the building through the door and search the rubble for a weapon. I grasped a pole from the ground, holding the matrix in my other hand I ascended towards the traitorous human with both objects at my side. He turned around quickly at me in shock, which quickly melted into a sardonic smile.

"I just saved the whole of the world." He declared proudly.

"You didn't save us, you betrayed us. Gave us up for slavery."

"Oh," Dylan looked on with a mocking eyes, "and you think you are going to save everyone again, do you? You think you're a hero?" He taunted smugly. "Huh? YOU THINK YOU'RE A HERO!" He roared, a wild look in his eyes. I glared, the rage and hatred boiling inside me.

"No. Being a hero would imply that I am saving someone." I swung the pole up, hitting him across the temple, disorientating him, then leant back and kicked him into the pillar, electrocuting him. I hissed in a harsh breath of air from straining my leg but I was fulfilled knowing it was minor compared to the suffering death I had just dealt Dylan. "I'm an avenger." I declared spitefully to his smoking corpse. I dropped the pole and flipped the matrix with my right hand, catching it in a reverse grip perfect for stabbing.

I approached the pillar, and turned my head to look both ways down the street. My steely gaze caught the rage filled optics of Sentinel Prime. _He was searching for me._ As he lifted his cannon to fire, I stepped backward in an attempt to get away. I tripped. My eyes widened and I saw the muzzle flash as Sentinel's cannon fired as time slowed down. I turned back to the pillar and flung the hand holding matrix out, my mind somehow instinctively calling on the power to control and the Matrix and it shot like a bullet into the pillar at the same time the cannon shot struck.

The reaction was instantaneous, expected but also _un_expected. Power exploded out of the matrix and into the pillar only to backlash outwards when Sentinel's shot shattered the control pillar instead of hitting me. A cascading wave of blue energy enveloped my body. I screamed as I was disintegrated into individual atoms but instead of feeling the nothingness of death or even ending up in the dynasty plane like I had in Egypt for all the unlikeliness it was going to happen, all I could comprehend was static humming and what sounded like whispers echoing in my mind. In this brief moment of purgatory I began to panic. Whatever was left of me felt like it was falling, moving faster than the speed of light without end but the end did come, just as suddenly as it had begun, as if I had just fallen from a building. I took in a large gasp of air back into what felt like a body. The whole experience had happened in what felt like the short space of five seconds, not really giving me much time to comprehend anything.

I sat bolt upright, breathing heavily and covered in sweat. My eyes snapped open at almost instantly the echoing whispers stopped. No longer was I in the battle-scarred wastelands of Chicago. Instead I was inside a warm, familiar room. Lying on a soft, familiar bed.

_I'm in _my_ old room. In my _parent's_ house._

* * *

A/N: Hey guys, been a while since I posted but I have been sat bored during my summer holidays and thought I would look at some of my stories, see if there were any I wanted to do something with and this one came up. This is being posted as a re-write of The End was Nigh since I didn't like the title and wanted to tweak a few things. I deleted the old story and posted this new since nobody would actually see my edits if I just updated the prologue.


End file.
